The present invention relates generally to materials for making medical grade products. More specifically, the present invention relates to medical grade port tubing.
It is known in the medical industry to house products such as fluids that are administered to a patient in plastic containers.
It is also known to use medical tubing, ports, to provide access either to a container or from a container. Such port tubing serves other purposes besides accessing the container, for example, as a conduit to a patient from a fluid source. Such medical port tubing has uses in such therapies as renal and blood.
Examples of therapies wherein flexible containers including port tubing are used include intravenous therapy, continuous ambulatory dialysis (CAPD), and blood therapy. In CAPD, the container includes a dialysis fluid that can be infused into the peritoneal of the patient through a tube, port, fused to the container.
Typically, for medical uses, there are a variety of characteristics that a medical port tube should have. Among the characteristics the port tube should exhibit is the ability to be RF (radio frequency) sealed to a material from which the container may be constructed. This allows the port tubing to be compatible with equipment used in certain of the medical industries. It is also desirable that the port tubing can be solvent bondable. For example, it is known in manufacturing containers with a port tubing to bond such tubings to a port closure (for example, PVC) using cyclohexanone to protect the sterility of the port tubing.
Furthermore, such port tubing should be sufficiently flexible as well as translucent. Additionally, the port tubing, if it is coextruded, must not easily delaminate.
Although most medical containers have been constructed from PVC, recently, much attention has been focussed on constructing non-PVC containers. Such port tubing, if it is to be used with a non-PVC container, must be compatible therewith.